Supporting base for a wardrobe rack



Nov. 5, 1968 c. E. GINGHER I SUPPORTING BASE FOR A WARDROBE RACK Filed July 18, 1966 INVENTOR 4 CARL E. GINGHER ATTORNEY United States Patent ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A quadrangular supporting foot for the base of a Wardrobe rack and the like having upstanding side walls with openings on the ends of one of the side walls to receive the edges of the opposed sides of a hollow base member when the foot is fitted thereon.

The present invention relates to a wardrobe rack of the type having a supporting base with a vertical member upstanding from the base and a shelf section mounted on the upper portion of the vertical'me-mber, more particularly, to a supporting foot which can be detachably mounted on the base.

In one form of wardrobe rack the base section comprises two base members which are secured'together in the shape of a T. An umbrella rack is mounted upon one of the base members and a vertical upright is fastened to both the base members and the umbrella rack so as to be upstanding from the intersection of the base members. The base members are generally formed from sheet metal and have a channel cross section with open face projecting downwardly toward the supporting surface and the ends of the base members being closed. Supporting feet are then attached to the underside of each end of the base members. These supporting feet may be provided with either a rubber pad or a caster.

The mountings for these supporting feet were permanently attached to the base section such as by spot welding or the like. Thus, a particular formof a supporting foot, once mounted on the base section, could not be replaced by another form of supporting foot. This permanent fastening of the supporting feet to the wardrobe rack bases greatly hampered the adaptability of such racks for different uses. At the same-time the structure for such a supporting foot was relatively complicated in relation to the simple function performed by these supporting structures.

It is therefore the principal object of the present invention to provide a novel and improved supporting foot for wardrobe racks and the like;

It is another object of the present invention to provide a supporting foot which is simple in structure but which can be detachably mounted to the base of a wardrobe rack.

It is a furtherobject of the present invention to provide a supporting foot which can be detachably but securely fastened to a three-sided base member.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the supporting foot structure disclosed herein is fastened to the underside of a base for a wardrobe rack. This base comprises a plurality of base members which may be arranged to form a T. Each member has a channel shape with the open face being directed downwardly toward a supporting surface and the ends of the base members are closed. Thus, each end of a base member comprises three sides. The supporting foot of the present invention 3,409,145 Patented Nov. 5, 1968 is detachably mounted to the end of such a base member.

The present supporting foot may comprise a square bottom surface having upstanding side walls from each edge thereof. These side walls are positioned to fit closely over the three sides of the end of a base member. The fourth side wall'of the supporting foot has slots at the ends thereof to accommodate the opposed'edgesf of the base member. Thus, when mounted in position, three of the supporting foot side walls will be visible of the outside of the base member end and the fourth supporting foot side wall will be positioned between the opposed sides of the base member.

The three exposed side walls of the supporting foot each are provided with a detent or similar fastening arrangement for engagement with corresponding openings formed in the sides of the base member. With this interlocking detent and opening arrangement the supporting foot is firmly but detachably mounted on the underside of an end of a base member.

The central portion of the bottom face of the supporting foot may be pressed outwardly to form a supporting surface. This surface rests directly upon the floor or'other supporting surface upon which the wardrobe rack is placed.

Corners of the supporting foot bottom surface may be provided with drain openings.

Other objects and advantages of the present invention will be readily apparent from the accompanying description when taken in conjunction with the following drawings, wherein;

FIGURE 1 is an overall perspective view of the wardrobe rack in which is incorporated the supporting foot of the present invention;

FIGURE 2 is a perspective view looking upwardly at the bottom of one end of a base member and showing the supporting foot in position;

FIGURE 3 is an overall perspective view of the supporting foot shown in FIGURE 2;

FIGURE 4 is a sectional view taken along the line 44 of FIGURE 2;

FIGURE 5 is a sectional view taken along the line 5-5 of FIGURE 2; and

FIGURE 6 is a perspective view similar to that of FIGURE 2 but showing the supporting foot mounted on the end of a vertically extending base member having a U cross section.

Proceeding next to the drawings, wherein like reference symbols indicate the same parts throughout the various views, a specific embodiment and modifications of the present invention will be described in detail.

In FIGURE 1 there is indicated at 1 a wardrobe rack which essentially comprises a base section 2, a vertical post 3 upstanding from the base section, and a shelf section 4 supported upon the vertical post. These three components are detachably connected together so that the entire wardrobe rack may be readily disassembled for shipment.

The base section 2 comprises a T-shaped base 5 formed from a cross piece 6 and a front piece 7. Both the cross piece 5 and the front piece 7 are channel shaped sheet metal members and, referring to cross piece 5 as an example, each comprises a web 5a with the depending flanges 5b and 5c and closed end 5d. Thus, the open face of the cross piece 5 is directed downwardly toward a supporting surface upon which the wardrobe rack rests.

Upstanding from the central portion of the cross piece 5 is an umbrella rack 8 formed of sheet metal and having notches 9 at its lower ends so as to straddle the cros piece 5. Drip trays 10 are slidably positioned in the notches and the top of the umbrella rack 8 is covered with top plate 11 having openings 12 therein for umbrellas.

A triangular shaped gusset 13 having a U cross section provides reinforcing for the front piece 7 with respect to the umbrella rack 8.

The vertical upright 3 is fastened in a socket or similar suitable structure provided in the umbrella rack 8. Positioned on the upper end of the vertical upright 3 is the shelf section 4 which comprises a plurality of perforated shelves 14 which are detachably mounted to the upright 3. The shelves 14 are each perforated at 15 and have their rear corners interconnected by angle braces 16.

Depending from the forward portion of the lower most shelf 14 is a hanger bar 17 having a plurality of openings 18 therein in which can be inserted the hooks of garment hangers.

The supporting foot of the present invention is indicated generally at 19 and illustrated in FIGURES 2 and 3 of the drawings. The supporting foot comprises a bottom surface 20 which is square in shape and which has its central portion pressed downwardly to form a supporting surface indicated at 21. Openings 21a are provided in the outer corners of the bottom 20 for drainage purposes.

Upstanding from the bottom 20 are side walls 22, 23, 24 and 25. Adjacent the upper edges of side walls 22 and 23 are inwardly projecting detent tabs 26 and 27 which are used to secure the supporting foot in position in a manner to be presently described. Upstanding from the top edge of side wall 24 is a tab 28 which is first bent inwardly at 29 and then upwardly as shown in FIG- URE 3.

The remaining side wall 24 has vertical slots 30 and 31 at its ends to accommodate the faces of the base member when the supporting foot is in position as shown in FIGURE 2.

The supporting foot is attached by first inserting the tab 28 into a horizontally extending slot 32 formed in the end wall of a base member such as 5d. The supporting foot is then pivoted upwardly until the detents 26 and 27 snap into openings 33 and 34 provided in the flanges 5b and 5c of the base member.

When the supporting foot is in position it will be apparent that the three side walls 22, 23 and 24 of the supporting foot are parallel to the three sides of the base member to which they are attached. Further the side walls of the supporting foot are extremely close and may contact the outer faces of the face member sides.

A rigid arrangement is also secured by the positioning or resting of the three edges of the base member upon the bottom surface of the supporting foot. This relationship is clearly shown in FIGURES 4 and 5 of the drawings. Thus, by providing for the three edges of the base member to rest upon the bottom surface of the supporting foot, the supporting foot becomes a closely fitting component of the base.

This three side wall locking together of parallel walls of the supporting foot and base member which walls are closely adjacent each other and may be in contact together with the resting of the three bottom edges of the base member upon the bottom surface of the supporting foot results in a secure supporting foot structure. This supporting foot structure will remain tightly fastened to the base member after long periods of hard usage.

The supporting foot is generally made of sheet metal of the same kind as the metal from which the base members are fabricated. Under certain conditions it may be desirable to form the supporting foot from stainless steel or from other sheet meterials such as suitable plastics.

While the supporting foot disclosed herein rests directly upon a supporting surface, it is apparent that other forms of supporting surfaces such as rubber or plastic pad or various types of casters may be mounted on this supporting foot.

This supporting foot may also be mounted from the end of a U-shaped leg or upstanding base member such as indicated at 35 in FIGURE 6. Thus, the present supporting foot has a wide range of application other than the wardrobe rack illustrated therein in that this foot may be employed on any base member having three downwardly directed edges.

The supporting surface of this foot, formed by pressing a portion of the bottom surface outwardly, results in a relatively small bearing surface. Accordingly wardrobe racks or other items provided with the supporting feet of the present invention can be easily moved when resting upon relatively hard supporting surfaces, such as the plastic tile surfaces commonly found in numerous offices and in many industrial plants and installations. As a result, equipment provided with the present supporting feet can easily be slid over a surface so as to impart a high degree of mobility to such equipment without the necessity for employing casters or the like. This gliding characteristic of the present supporting feet is highly desirable since it eliminates the requirement for physically lifting such wardrobe racks or other equipment when it is desired to move them to different locations.

Thus it can be seen that the present invention has provided a supporting foot for wardrobe racks and the like which is simple in structure but which is securely and tightly fastened to the base of such a rack. Furthermore, this supporting foot is detachably fastened so that it may be readily snapped into position on the site of use or may be readily removed when desired.

It will be understood that this invention is susceptible to modification in order to adapt it to different usages and conditions and, accordingly, it is desired to comprehend such modifications within this invention as may fall within the scope of the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. In a base for a wardrobe rack and the like, a hollow base member having three sides with two of said sides being parallel and connected to the third side at right angles thereto, the edges of said sides being directed downwardly toward a supporting surface, a quadrangular supporting foot having upstanding side walls from each edge thereof and fitted over said edges of said base member sides, means on three of said foot side walls for detachably securing said walls to the sides of said base member, the fourth of said side walls having slots at the ends thereof to receive the edges of the opposed sides of said base member.

2. In a base for a wardrobe rack as claimed in claim 1 with there being openings in said base member sides adjacent the edges thereof, and detent means on three of said foot side Walls extending into said openings to secure said foot in position.

3. In a base for a wardrobe rack and the like a hollow base member having three sides with the edges of said sides being directed downwardly toward a supporting surface, a quadrangular supporting foot having upstanding side walls from each edge thereof and fitted over said edges of said base member sides, means on three of said foot side walls and on three of said base sides for detachably securing said walls to the sides of said base member, there being openings in the bottom of said foot in the corners thereof at the junctions of the sides of said base member.

4. A supporting foot for the base of a wardrobe rack and the like and comprising a rectangular bottom surface, side walls upstanding from the edges of said bottom surface, means adjacent the upper edges of three of said side walls for fastening said side walls to surfaces parallel thereto, said fastening means comprising inwardly projecting detents on opposed side walls and an upstanding inwardly curved tab on the third of said side walls adapted to engage openings in said base, the fourth of said side walls having slots at the ends thereof to receive the edges of surfaces when said foot is mounted in position on a 'base.

5. A supporting foot as claimed in claim 4 with there being openings in the corners of said bottom surface opposed from said fourth side wall slots.

6. A supporting foot for the base of a wardrobe rack and the like, and comprising a rectangular bottom surface, side walls upstanding from three of the edges of said bottom surface, means adjacent the upper edges of said three side walls for fastening said side walls to surfaces parallel thereto, said fastening means comprising inwardly projecting detents on opposed side walls and an upstanding inwardly curved tab on the third of said side walls adapted to engage openings in said surfaces, the edges of surfaces being received along the fourth edge of said bottom surface when said foot is mounted in position on a base.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,382,833 6/1921 Hurd 16-42 XR 1,482,205 1/1924 Uhl 248188.9 1,827,972 10/1931 Darnell 1642 3,317,948 5/1967 Reynolds 1642 1,917,601 7/1933 Schermerhorn 248188.9 2,301,420 11/1942 Liabastre 248188.9

ROY D. FRAZIER, Primary Examiner. W. D. LOULAN, Assistant Examiner. 

